January - 17 UFO's in 2017 monthly link up!

Well, the month started off great with a finish first thing! I finished the quilting and binding on my RSC 2016 quilt to start off the year right.

Next I tackled the Quilters Scrapbook quilt - it needed pressing, a backing and batting. It did get quilted on the machine this month (yup, it sat a while in the sewing room after the pinning process). The binding fabric was found and made and machine stitched to one side. It still needs to be hand stitched to the back... which will probably happen tonight.

I also moved along my 1857 Album blocks. I had let these slide last fall but got quite a few prepped this month and hand stitched down. I do need to add purple peels to the corners but I am very happy with the progress on this. I started this quilt last January and SentimentalStitches.com is releasing a few blocks each month until June 2017. Still behind but... great progress was made.

Not too shabby for the first month of this challenge! Check out how everyone else did by clicking here.

I'll have to figure out what to work on next... I know the 1857 blocks will continue, I'd like to get a top in the queue quilted and maybe put some blocks together to make another quilt top? Plenty of choices on either of those tasks. Come back next month to see how I do!

Design floor Monday....

 I finished the last 2 blocks in the Thangles series yesterday and picked out the flying geese one and reversed the colors. I squeaked out enough of the cream fabric to make all the sashing needed for the quilt. I do believe I had about 3 inches in bits left after I was done cutting and piecing those things!
 I hope to finish sewing them together into a top tomorrow. Monday afternoon is prep for girl scouts (cause I never think to so it on Sunday!).

Slow Sunday Stitching.... Quilters Scrapbook almost finished!

There will be binding later today!

I finished the machine quilting on my quilters scrapbook quilt this morning. This quilt was designed by Joanne at Canuckquilter.com. The pattern can be found for purchase through her website.

Then.... came the ut oh moment. You have all been there..... especially with quilt tops that have been done for a while. I checked the blue section of the fabric area. Nope - none of that dark blue from connecting threads there. Hmmmm.... maybe I was smart and put it in the drawer with the top? Emptying out the drawer where I kept it.... yup - I am a block collector! Cats, civil war diary blocks, churn dash blocks, midget blocks, blue blocks, green and brown blocks, VQF quilt top blocks, then the tops (I can fit a LOT into one drawer!) - a churn dash, century quilt, bear paw baby, mystery baby from last year and fabrics for a blue and brown top I started with some of the blocks finished.

And ta da.... some of the fabric I needed. A quick calculation... and I think if I use 2.25 strips for the binding I have just enough! Woo Hoo!

So after trimming the quilt, cutting and making the binding and pressing it in half, then using the walking foot to attach it to the front of the quilt...... it WILL be time to hand stitch the binding!

While I am slow stitching today, I will be thinking of a good blogging friend who lost her life to cancer this month. I found out this morning and will be missing my good friend Kathy (Nana to 4 T's), who blogged at Empty nest but full heart. She always had a kind word and we had some wonderful e-mail conversations over the years. She was a wonderful quilter who hand quilted some gorgeous quilts and did link up to this link party in the past. If you could say a prayer for her family she left behind - a husband, daughter and four grands that she doted on.

Linking up with Kathy's Quilts where you will see lots of hand work happening all over the world.

Saturday... means the RSC Challenge link up!

I did get some time to play with purple this week. I had plans to border my little diamonds with purple friendship stars.... but I really didn't like how they looked together. So.... I think I'll just make 6 inch friendship stars this year as well in all the colors! I have 12 made in purple.
 

That little diamond block..... well I did find a basket (or two) of half square triangles..... maybe I'll make some 12 inch blocks with them in colors of the challenge and have a very unique quilt in December?... we will see what color comes up for February and how inspired I get!

I added a couple of my 1857 album blocks from sentimentatlstitches.com this week and since I am doing that quilt in purple and greens..... I'm adding a picture. The basket and crest block with a few of the border blocks.

I added a couple of 16 patch blocks..... because they are so versatile! 

In the past I have made three quilts from these types of blocks. Two stars and one Goodnight Irene that I call my cube quilt.

The Cube Quilt.

I still have not made the little squares of color...maybe they will get made this weekend!

Head on over to the RSC Linkup and enjoy the purple show. 

Last night was my pampered chef cooking club. We made crispy zucchini fries, Hearty Tuscan Soup and a decadent desert of Cappuccino Mousse Triffle. I will be making the fries this week... and maybe the soup. They were both so yummy. 

Mid week check in....

I'm calling this one done! A basket from the 1857 album block collection. The grapes are huge but they fill up the space. Today... we have the AC guy coming for the first cleaning of the year this morning.  The kids have a half day of school. Once Emily finishes her homework... she and I are heading to Orlando and The Crayola Experience for a few hours this afternoon. Aidan has had a bit of an attitude with us so he is not going this time. He and Dad get to stay home.

Slow Sunday....

I started the day making some banana chip muffins (recipe is on the recipe tab!) for breakfast. Aidan requested mini muffins for breakfast this morning. They were just tested and he said they were Amazing... then quickly changed it to 'terrible, I'll have to eat all of them!'. Three more very ripe bananas will be made into bread later this morning.

The kids are headed to Grandma's for the day. That should allow me to clean up the house a bit (well, it will last until they get home!). I plan to do a little machine quilting on my Quilters Scrapbook and then..... settle in this afternoon with some slow stitching on my 1857 Appliqué blocks. I really hope to get the basket block finished off today. I have some circles prepped somewhere for the grapes to add to the basket.

We took a walk with the kids last night while they rode their scooters. Yes, Aidan will have his helmet on in the future. We need to head out sooner than 6.... it was pretty dark when we got home around 6:40.

Linking up with Kathy at Slow Sunday Stitching today. Head on over and see what great projects are being worked today.

RSC Saturday...

 Good thing I was able to sew a bit on Sunday... that is the only machine sewing I got all week. But... the spring blossoms got made and I found these little blocks in purple that I sewed together. They are about 12 inches now.... I think they will be surrounded by some purple friendship stars.... maybe some sewing time will happen later today to make that happen? First up is bowling for Emily and scouts for Aidan.

I did get some appliqué done this week in purples and green on my 1857 album blocks.  There were about 4 of the border  blocks done too... but I'm too lazy to go take a picture of them!

Linking up with Angela over at the RSC Challenge. What purple scraps will you be playing with today?

Monday.....

Sunday was a day of puttering in the sewing room. I dumped out the smallest bin of scraps and sorted them. I am now very afraid to dump the 3 huge bins.... it took so long to sort that little one! How did I fit that many scraps into one little bin?

I got my spring blossoms sewn together. I found 9 of these diamonds so decided to sew them all together.

I also cut and sewed a bunch more of the Thangles Series #4. I have 2 left to make... and one to fix. I don't know how I missed that I forgot to reverse one of the colors so will need to pick that one out and resew it. These finish at 8 inches... and I have no clue how they are going to go together. Either way it is going to be a very small quilt!

I also got my quilters scrapbook pressed, pinned and started quilting the blocks. That is a big quilt to pull through my little sewing machine area. I think I know why my back hurt last night!

I hope to add some time to the quilting on this each day this week. I have outlined 6 of the blocks so far but there is lots left to quilt.

Slow Stitching Sunday...

There will be slow stitching at some point on this lovely dresden plate block. It got lots of attention last Sunday and this Sunday will be finishing off the X in each of the outer squares. I am not sure if some more quilting will be added in the white background or not.... stay tuned to find out next week!

Linking up with Kathy and the other Slow Sunday Stitchers.

It's RSC Saturday in Purple!

I actually have done a few things in purple this week. I got 4 of my border blocks finished for the 1857 sampler quilt I am working on.  Hey, it is purple so it got included!

Some bow ties were added to the pile from last week.

I found a bundle of 12 blocks with a pattern and fabric that I decided to start stitching up. This is the Thangles series #4 but.... I am just using my easy angle ruler =). The two purple blocks got made along with a handful of the other ones. These are going quickly.... and now there are more scraps!

Finally I made a spring blossom from the free pattern over at canuckquilter.com These are so fun to make. I am going on her quilt design and will plan to make certain colors this year
as the month's color comes up. I will use the same background and the same green for the leaf. It will be fun to see how this one comes out. One done - 5 left to sew the parts together into their blossoms.

The dresden plate from last year got a little hand quilting done on it last Sunday. It should be finished off this Sunday with an X put into all those squares on the edge. It was so fun to hand quilt this block I am looking forward to finishing one each month this year!

Linking up with RSC Challenge on Saturday morning and Oh Scrap on Sunday.


Tried a new recipe last night and it was yummy. Lemon Greek Chicken from the Pampered Chef Website.

Lemon Greek Chicken before

After......

I think this one will make it into the rotation! I'll pull out the potato and triple the mushrooms. I think a rice pilaf would go well with this next time.  Potato was good but...need more room for the mushrooms!

Day 10... and a new project.... or is it?

Technically, this has been in a bin for over 8 years.... so is it a UFO? I have this bundle of 12 blocks from the Thangles series #4 that I won at my Vermont guild well over 8 years ago. I am just using my easy angle ruler to make the triangles needed in the blocks. I pulled out a purple one since January's RSC is purple this month. It contains the instructions and 2 width of strip fabrics in a background and a color. I think I will have the color be the background.... and the light be the pattern. Just to switch it up a bit. Like the first picture rather than the second picture. The blocks are all different color with a different light background fabric..... I seem to be missing the patter for the 4th one but have the yellow fabric and the background... so I guess I get to create a block!

Sunday Slow stitching....

Kathy reminds us each week to slow down and relax with some stitching. As I seem to have the attention span of a gnat, I have a few options for hand stitching at the ready most of the time. These are the projects that will get a few stitches added to them during the week.

I have back basted some border blocks for my 1857 album quilt that are ready to be appliquéd.

I have some hand quilting of orange peels on the doll quilt waiting.

I just prepped the purple Dresden plate block for hand quilting. I am going to try the plastic square hoop and see if I can get it to work for me. If not... I'll pin like crazy and go hoopoes for this as it is only 16 inches square. Oops - already 2 prepped for this stage but I have a huge 90x90 trip quilt that wants to get hand quilted too.... Will have to think about that. Maybe get that prepped and work on it while it is cold down here and put the peels on hold?

There are always the lemoyne stars to hand piece as well.... in their little bags ready to toss into the purse at a moments notice for hand piecing.

Then... my switch up is to crochet with some sugar and cream yarn. I have switched from knitting to crochet these as it takes me half the time with crochet. I finished the one from last week and started another one. I am seeing how many I can get out of a white skein of yarn with this pattern. I am thinking 2 and some leftover for a 'scrappy' one.

Instead of a movie yesterday afternoon it was family Monopoly with our new older version of the game from Grammy and Grandpa R for Christmas. It was 2.5 hours of fun. I seem to have come in last place but I was also making dinner while playing (meatloaf, mashed potato and a veggie). That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! Greg got the Utilities and managed to win by a hundred dollars. Emily was the property baron and Aidan got Park Place and Boardwalk with tons of houses. Good thing we managed to avoid landing on his block!

Linking up with Kathy at Slow Stitching Sunday. I'm going to enjoy the kid less house (can't say quiet as the neighbor is clearing trees and not helping my headache at all!) and attempt to clean before settling in to play with some fabric, needles and maybe pins!

2017 RSC Challenge Week 1

It is a new year and a new color - purple - was selected. I have yet to find all the purple scraps to start sewing but did pull a few out this week while I had a few minutes. I cut 2 2.5 inch squares and 2 1.5 inch squares of the purple fabric. I had some muslin left on a bolt... so pulled that and cut some 2.5 inch squares. Yup - it was bow tie time! I only took a few minutes and sewed a couple together but I can already tell this is going to be a fun project for me this year! No plan other than to make bow ties from scraps and see what fun I have playing with them towards the end of the year. So many possibilities of putting them together.

I hope to stay warm today and spend a little time prepping my purple 16 inch Dresden block for hand quilting - a great way to use those extra pieces of batting and fabric and have a small project to take with you. I will assemble them in the quilt as you go process since I finally tried it last year and really liked the flexibility. I think it will be a movie afternoon as there were terrible thunderstorms last night and I don't think any of us got much sleep. I plan to hand quilt while watching the movie with the family. I think it will be Scooby Do but might talk them into one of the Despicable Me movies.  I made a decision today (and am putting it in writing so I remember!) - the backings will be from the Stonehenge cool collection of fat quarters I purchased before I left Vermont 5 years ago to move to Florida. I think they will look great as a patchwork backing... and then those can get cut into scraps to use instead of staying in their nice neat bundle of fabrics.

Who knows, maybe I'll just have to dump out the bins of scrap fabrics today and let the kids sort into colors... that might keep them occupied for a few minutes..... and it has not been done in a few years.
Linking up with the RSC Challenge. Head on over and get some inspiration of things to do with your scraps and join us! It is a guilt free challenge - no worries if life gets in the way. No pressure - just play with some scraps (or fabrics... hey they all become scraps eventually!) each month and share what you have done at the weekly link up party so we all can oooh and awww over your blocks!

17 for 2017 in January....

I think I am going to concentrate on finishing the scrapbook quilt that is a top and waiting to be quilted. I made this fun quilt a few years ago to test out a pattern by Joanne over at canuckquilter.com  I chose to use my blue and green scraps and then made that fun border in blue. Excuse the Christmas mess, that last tree should come down tonight.

 I really like how this one turned out and it would work well with any 10 inch block. I can't wait for the weekend when I can get this pinned for quilting... hopefully starting on Sunday while the kiddo's are with Grandma.

I'll also be moving along my 1857 Album quilt blocks. I had stalled on this project the last few months but with a couple of quick block finishes already this year I hope to get a few more tackled this month. I have 2 more prepped and 4 border ones and cut the fabrics needed for back basting.

There.. it is in writing so let's see how well I do! Check back at the end of the month for a progress post.

First finish of 2017!

My 2016 RSC Row Along quilt! I put a nice snuggly flannel on the back and pulled a paisley blue fabric for the binding. The binding got finished this morning before Aidan and I headed to see the traveling dinosaur exhibit before it leaves Ocala in a few weeks.
He wanted lunch with his Mom and Son adventure so we stopped at a waffle house for a breakfast lunch. After that it was a quick run through the grocery store to pick up a couple of things to make some granola bars. I needed the apple juice and the wheat germ (or so I thought. I had someone check the pantry cause I remembered buying some in the last month or two. Found one in there when I got home so I guess there will be more bars in our future!) They are cooling on the rack but... quite a few pieces have been broken off for 'testing' by all of us.
The consensus is 'terrible.... so I'll just have to eat the whole pan so you don't need to suffer!'. Yup, they are pretty darn good. I added a couple handfuls of craisins to the Pioneer Woman's granola bar recipe.
So far I have been meeting my goal of stitching (machine, hand or knitting or crochet) at least 15 minutes a day. I think it is a good goal, and I hope to see a lot of 'finishes' in 2017.
Tomorrow - the kids go back to school and I go back to work.... and back to the 'normal' routine.
In order to have things ready to pick up and stitch.... I need to do a little prep work this evening. I think I'll draw a couple more 1857 blocks, find a backing and leftover batting to prep the purple dresden plate for hand quilting... and maybe find a bin of purples I know I have and see if I have any 2.5 and 1.5 strips to prep some bow ties!

Monday!

I'm about to head into the sewing room to quilt the 2016 row by row quilt. The kitchen is all cleaned up and the sweet bread dough for cinnamon rolls is working in the bread maker.

Yesterday I got some nice sewing in after getting all the inside Christmas things got put away (except the second Christmas tree in the front room). I pieced some batting from three leftover strips. I pieced 3 yards of a fleece for the backing. The quilt got pinned.... then I switched to watching Harry Potter and doing some hand work. With a break for Chili's for dinner with the hubby (fajitas!) I managed to get 2 blocks appliqued for the 1857 quilt!

Today will be moving things in my office around, hanging some things on the walls and of course quilting that quilt and making and attaching the binding. Wish me luck.

Happy New Year .... and some slow stitching!

What a great way to start off the new year  - plans to play in the sewing room for most of the day today! The house will get changed from Christmas to Snowmen for the month and the clutter of Christmas things picked up a bit.
There will be slow stitching... I am hoping for binding in the evening on my 2016 RSC Quilt but for the morning while the kids are here (heading to Grandma's soon! for an overnight!!!!)... I think it is time to pull out the 1857 Appliqué blocks and move that project along a bit. I am a few months behind but as with most crafty things in my life - no rush, no worries.

I picked two easy ones to trace onto the back of the background so they are all set for back basting then, needle turn appliqué. The first one is a pretty flower. Two leaves and the flower got back basted this morning. Just trimming then needle turn... oops, just noticed the stem needs to go under that flower.... I'll just pick out those few stitches near the base and tuck him in there before stitching that one.

Gay at Sentimental Stitches has a good tutorial here on back basting.

May you get a few relaxing stitches in on this first day of 2017.

Linking up with Slow Sunday Stitching and looking forward to some nice relaxing stitches today.